Starter for engines.



v. BENDIX. STARTER FOR. ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, 1913v 1,124,264 7 Patented Jan.12, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

V. BENDI-X. STARTER FOR ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, 1913."

2 I Patented Jan. 12,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

VINCENT BENDIX, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STARTER For. ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

Application filed November 24, 1913. Seria1 No. 802,694.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VINCENT BENDIX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starters for Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to a starter for a gas engine and the like and the object thereof is to provide a simple, reliable and efficient automatic device of this character.

My starter pertains to that type in which The same means is also capable of taking up of back lash that might otherwise occur when the engine goes over the compression points, the same especially on engines possessing-high compression having a tendency to drive the driving member or pinionout of mesh with the engine member of fly wheel and to thereby cause a vibration of the pinion on the screw shaft. Said means also has the advantage of eliminating noise of the pinion when starting to rotate in unison with the screw shaft. Speaking in general terms, the means provided for the purpose described consists of a yieldingdriving connection interposed at some suitable point between the motor. and the engine element, but preferably between the screw shaft and its pinion.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of one embodiment of my inven tion; Fig. 2 a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a section of the pimon; Fig. 4 a perspective of the coil spring forming a -part of the yielding driving connection;

Fig. 5 an elevation of one end of the pinion;

- 'FigI-G a detail view of a modified form of connection between the spring and pinion; Fig. 7a sectional elevation of a modified construction of yielding connection; and Figi 8a sectional elevation of still another modified form of tion.

In the present instance and by preference the motor is an electric motor, the supporting member is a screw shaft, the driving member is a pinion, and the engine member or wheel operatively connected with the engine is the fly wheel thereof, although it will yielding driving connecbe understood that my invention in its broader aspect is not to be limited to such motor, screw shaft, pinion or fly wheel, but that other kinds of motors and driving connections than the specific ones herein illustrated and described may be employed. It will also be understood that the engine member which is operatively connected with the engine and which is to be driven by the starting device may be any member or wheel or other driving connection connected directly or indirectly with the engine, so that the movements of the motor and its driving member will start the engine into operation. In addition, it will be understood that the rotatable shaft on which the driving member or pinion is mounted may be driven either directly or indirectly by the motor, that is to say, such shaft may be either the armature shaft extended or coupled in suitable manner to the screw shaft or may be an entirely separate shaft in the manner of a countershaft driven by gearing from the armature. shaft. In the present instance I have shown both the direct and indirect methods of drive for the screw shaft. Furthermore, it will be understood that while I have herein shown spur gearing between the pinion and the engine wheel, whether it be the fly wheel or not, worm gearing might be employed, the worm corresponding to the pinion shown being movable in-a plane at the engine member which is here shown as a fly wheel 1 is provided on its pe-' riphery with a circular rack or with gear teeth 2 of the spur type. The motor 3 is an electric motor having an armature shaft 4 to whose outer end is secured a pinion 5.

' The motor is mounted at one end in a housing which is secured to any fixed part of an automobile or other structure with which this device may be associated and which here comprises three sections 6, 7 and 8 allsecured together in a suitable manner as by bolting. Within this housing and in a plane intersecting the axis of the fly wheel is mounted a rotatable screw shaft 9 which is journaled at its ends in bearings provided in the sections 6 and 8 of the housing. The drive employed in the instance being described is of the indirect type, that is to say, the shaft 9 is a counter-shaft with respect' to the armature shaft, although it will be understood that the particular character of drive is immaterial and that the invention is equally applicable to the direct drive as hereinafter explained in connection with the description of Fig. 7. Consequently, as shown in Fig. 1, a gear 10 is secured by means of the key 11 to the screw shaft and is adapted to mesh with and to be driven by the armature pinion 5. The shaft 9 is screw threaded at its intermediate portion and on this portion there is mounted the driving member 12 which is in the form of a pinion having a screw threaded central opening coacting with the screw threads of the shaft.

The construction and arrangement of the parts thus far described are such that when the motor is operated theshaft 9 is rotated, and as an incident to such rotation and in an automatic manner the pinion 12 travels outwardly upon the screw shaft and intermeshes with the gear teeth 2 of the fly wheel. In order to prevent rotation of the pinion with the screw shaft during the time when the pinion should be traveling longitudinally and to thereby insure such longitudinal travel I prefer to weight the pinion as by means of the weight 13 but such weighting of the pinion is not necessary in so far as my present invention is concerned. Moreover the weighted pinion per 86, does not form any part of my present invention, but has been made the subject matter of a separate application filed by me.

When the pinion has reached its outward limit of longitudinal movement and is in full mesh with the fly wheel, such wheel will be driven and the engine thereby started and as soon as the engine is capable of operating on its own power, the fly wheel will be rotated at a faster speed, with the result that the pinion 'will'be automatically thrown out of mesh with the fly wheel and moved longitudinally along the screw shaft back to its normal or home position. This pinion is stopped in this position preferably by means of the pin 14: provided in the groove between the screw threads at the inner end of the latter, such pin being contacted by the abrupt shoulder 15 formed at'the extreme inner endof the'screw thread of the pinion, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

The object of my resent invention is to provide a yielding rivin connection between the motor and the 5y wheel-for the purposes hereinafter explained. This yieldmg driving connection may belocated at different points, but I prefer to locate the same between the pinion and the screw shaft, as shown in Fig. 1, and in Fig. 8 I have showna modification whereby the same general result can be accomplished by means of a driving connection elsewhere located.

Describing the yielding driving connection illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, I provide .a coiled spring 16 encircling the outer portion of the screw shaft and having one end anchored to the shaft and its other end left free but in the path of movement of a projection on the outer face of the pinion. In the present instance the outer end of the spring is formed as an eye 17 which is held to the screw shaft in suitable manner as by means of the stud 18. The other or free end of the spring is formed as a hook 19 and the same is interposed in the ath of a projection on the pinion. In F igs. 1 and 3, this projection is shown as an integral part 20 of the pinion, although it will be understood that it may be made separate therefrom, as shown in Fig. 6, wherein such projection is a pin 21 secured to the inion and with its head projecting laterally from the outer face 0 the pinion.

In the described outward travel of the pinion longitudinally of the screw shaft the projection 20 will eventually be interposed in, the path of rotation of the hook 19 of the spring and owin to the consequent retention of this end 'o the spring and by reason of the continued rotation of the screw shaft, the spring will be wound up also compressed until .the tension between the screw shaft and pinion through the medium of the sprin is greater than the resistance of the fly w eel whereupon such wheel will be rotated in positive manner by the continued operation of the electric motor.

As is well known in the case of internal combustion engines of the usual type, especially in those having high compression, the greatest resistance is offered in the operation of the engine at the compression points and that the engine runs comparatively free after going over compression points.

and until coming to the next compression point. Consequently between compression points the engine is liable to speed up and this action has a tendency to start the automatic unmeshing of the pinion from the fly wheel by moving it slightly toward its home position, after which due to the approach of the next compression point the pinion would move inwardly again to its fully meshed position. This would cause the vibration of the pinion upon the screw shaft which is not desirable. 7

By the use of the yielding driving connection this vibration of the pinion under the conditions named is cushioned and rendered immaterial in practice. When the fly wheel has passed by a compression point and has increased its speed, the increased speed of the pinion if not compensated for by increased speed of the electric motor would cause a slight retrograde movement of the pinion until the next compression point is approached with the result that the movements of the pinion which under these conditions is always engaged by the spring will-be cushioned by the spring in such vibrational movements. 'However, when the engine has begun to operate on its own power, the materially increased speed of rotation of the fly Wheel will cause such an increased speed of the pinion that the latter will be automatically moved longitudinally of the screw shaft out of mesh with the fly wheel and back to home position.

Another advantageous result accomplished by the yielding driving connection resides in the fact that all shock is prevented that would otherwise result in case the pinion were caused to contact an end stop of any sort when in full mesh, it being apparent that, as above described, there is no abrupt action in the change from longitudinal to rotary movement of the pinion but a compression ofthe spring and a gradual application of pressure or tension for rotary movement due to the intervention of the spring. This yielding driving connection also has the advantage in that it causes the elimination of noise which would be due to contact of the pinion with any fixed sto or shoulder at the end of its outward trave ,While I prefer to anchor the spring upon the screw shaft it is obvious that the reversal thereof might be employed, that is to say, the spring might be anchored upon the pinion itself and a pin or other projection located on the screw shaft in position to be contacted at theproper time by the outer or hook end of the'spring. I

In the embodiment of my invention hereinbefore described I have shown an indirect drive for the screw shaft and also a directcontact between the pinion and the spring 16 but in Fig. 7 I have shown a direct type of drive for the screw shaft and an indirect action between the pinion and the spring. According to this modification the screw shaft 22 is coupled tothe extended armature shaft "23 of an electric motor (not otherwise shown) in suitable manner as by means of the sleeve 24 and the two keys 25 with the result that the screw shaft is direct driven. This screw shaft is supported in'suitable bearings such as the bearings 26 and 27 and the same has. an intermediate screw portion on ,which is mounted a pinion 28 having on its outer face suitable clutch members 29. To the outer end of the'screw shaft is secured a coiled spring 30, the same being anchored at its'outer end by means of the stud 31. The inner end of the spring is secured to the head 32 of a sleeve 33 fitting upon the screw shaft and rotated by the latter through the spring 30 acting as a yielding driving connection. The inner end of the sleeve 33 is formed as a clutch member 3% corresponding with the clutch face or member 29. It will be understood that the a pinion 28 in its outward longitudinal travel will engage the sleeve 33 by means of the clutch members or jaws and such sleeve will tend to drive such pinion rotatively but will be unable to do so until the degree of driving force overcomes the degree of resist; ance offered by the fly wheel or other engine member. The operation and results accomplished by this form of construction are the same as the yielding connection between the shaft and the pinion, the same may be located elsewhere as, for instance,

outer end is secured to the gear ring. As a result of this construction the described "ibration of the pinion on the screw shaft is prevented inasmuch as the spring will speed up the screw shaft tocompensate for the increased speed of the pinion whenever the latter is driven faster after a'compression point has been passed. In this particular instance the compensation and the consequent prevention of vibration is accomplished by increasing the speed of the screw shaft, whereas in the construction shown in Fig. 1 the speed of rotation on the screw shaft remains constant with the motor speed and the vibration is cushioned by the spring 16. However, in both cases the same general result, that. is the prevention of shock and noise due to starting and back lash is accomplished.

I claim:

1. An engine starter comprising, in combination with a member operatively connected with the engine, a motor, a driving member operated. thereby and adapted to cooperate with and drive the other member but normally out of engagement therewith, means whereby relative movement between the motor and the driving member auto- -matically moves the latter into driving engagement with the other member, and a yielding driving connection interposed between the motor and the driving member.

2. An engine starter comprising, in combination with a member operativel connected with the engine, a motor, a raving member operated thereby and adapted to cooperate with and drive the other member a but normally out of engagement therewith,

means whereby relative movement between the motor and the drivin member automatically moves the latter into driving engagement with the other member, and a spring driving connection interposed between the motor and the driving member,

3. An engine starter comprising, in combination with a member operativel connected with the enginega 'motor, a riving member operated thereby and adapted to cooperate with and drive the other member but normally out of engagement therewith, means whereby relative movement between the motor and the driving member automatically moves the latter into driving engagement with the other member, and a yielding driving connection cooperating directly with said driving member.

4. An engine starter comprising, in combination with a member operativelvconnected with the engine, a motor, a riving member operated thereby and adapted 'to cooperate with and drive the other member but normally out of engagement therewith, means whereby relative movement between the motor and the driving member automatically moves the latter into driving engagement with the other member, and a yielding clutch interposed between the motor and said driving member.

5. An engine starter comprising a motor,

a rotatable shaft driven thereby, a driving member mounted to travel longitudinally on said rotatable shaft and also to rotate there 40 with, and a yielding driving connection between said shaft and driving member.

6. An engine starter comprising amotor,

a rotatable shaft driven thereby, a driving member mounted to travel longitudinally on said rotatable shaft and also to rotate therewith, and a spring driving connection between said shaft and driving member.

7. An en ine starter comprising a motor, a rotata 1e shaft driven thereby, a driving member mounted to travel longitudinally on said rotatable shaft and also to rotate therewith, and a yielding driving connection mounted. upon the shaft and arranged in the path of movement of the driving mer'nber in position to engage and rotate the latter.

8. An engine starter comprising a motor,

a rotatable shaft driven thereby, a driving member mounted to travel longitudinally on said rotatable shaft and also to rotate therewith, andya spring device mounted upon" the shaft and arranged in the path of movement of the driving member in po sition to engage and rotate the latter.

9. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a driving member having screw threaded connection therewith and loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon for rotary movement therewith, and a yielding driving connection be tween the driving member and the shaft.

10. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a driving member having screw threaded connection therewith and loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon and for rotary movement therewith, and a spring mounted on the shaft and formin the rotary driving connection between t e shaft and the driving member.

11. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a driving member having screw threaded connection therewith and loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon for rotary movement therewith, and a spring coiled around the shaft with one end secured thereto and its other end arranged in the path of the driving member in its longitudinal movement.

12. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mount-- ed for longitudinal movement thereon and for rotary movement therewith, and a yielding driving connection between the pinion and shaft 13. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon and for rotary movement therewith, and a yieldin driving connection between the pinion an shaft, consistmgof a spring mounted upon the shaft and arranged to be en aged by the pinion toward the end of its ongitudinal movement.

14. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon and formtary movement therewith, and a yielding driving connection between the pinion and shaft, consisting of a spring coiled around the shaft with one end secured to the latter and its other end free and arranged in the path of the pinion for engagement between it and such pinion.

15. An engine starter comprising a motor, a rotatable shaft driven thereby, a driving member mounted to travel longitudinally on said rotatable shaft, and also to rotate therewith, said member being weighted to compel said longitudinal movement, and a yieldlng driving connection between said shaft and driving member.

16. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon and for rotary movement therewith, said pinion being weighted to compel said longitudinal movement, and a yielding driving connection between the pinion and shaft.

17. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mount- 19. An engine starter comprising a rotatable screw shaft, a pinion loosely mounted for longitudinal movement thereon and for rotary movement therewith, and a coiled spring which surrounds one end of the screw shaft and one end of which is secured to such shaft, the pinion being arranged to bear against the free end of the spring in its longitudinal movement in one direction.

VINCENT BEN DIX. Witnesses S. E. HTBBEN, ROBERT DOBBLEMAN. 

